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Renewable Energy: How can Shell offer 100% renewable energy

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  1.  
    • CommentAuthortony
    • CommentTimeApr 20th 2019
     
    How can Shell offer their customers 100% renewable energy?
    •  
      CommentAuthordjh
    • CommentTimeApr 21st 2019
     
    I don't understand two things about REGO trading.

    (1) If it is possible to claim electricity is 'green' as long as you have a REGO matching the quantity, what happens to the REGO-less renewably-generated but now un-green electricity? Is it possible somebody else claims that is 'green' too? Or is it now dirty? Regardless of the mechanisms, it seems only sensible it should be impossible (i.e. illegal) to claim greenness for the same electricity twice. So is it an incredibly naive and bad piece of law/regulation drafting, or is there something more complicated going on?

    (2) I understand the purpose of being able to demonstrate the renewableness of some electricity, but I don't understand the purpose of allowing it to be separated from that electricity. Why isn't it just metadata about the electricity, in a similar way as an invoice, for example?
    • CommentAuthorfinnian
    • CommentTimeApr 21st 2019
     
    I think the REGOs are useful for trade: they are purchased to allow the energy retailers to each demonstrate they have got enough renewable power. So it is basically just an accounting tool that makes sure the total numbers add up that is maybe easier than separate markets for renewable and non-renewable energy.

    In the absence of REGOs, you could contract with renewable companies to produce a unit of power, and sell that power to your customer, and it would be meaningful to say that you deliver 100% renewable energy.

    But once there is a UK-wide obligation to produce a certain amount of renewable energy, all this does is mean that someone else produces less renewable energy (assuming the number of customers wanting pure green energy is less than the current obligation).

    So then the electricity companies play funny games to claim that their energy really is green. They have to do something 'additional' to make the claim, like actually construct and own renewable power plants (which, again, doesn't obviously change the total number in the UK because the REGOs effectively control how many are built in total). What they could do is retire the REGOs (rip them up) but that would cost money so they don't (they used to do this a bit but apparently now don't bother).

    I think effectively you can sell your REGOs and still point up at your wind turbines and talk about how green you are.

    https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/energy/do-green-energy-tariffs-make-difference
  4.  
    they cant ...
    you get whats available at the time.
    • CommentAuthorCWatters
    • CommentTimeApr 26th 2019
     
    https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-programmes/rego/about-rego-scheme

    "Renewable generators of any size in Great Britain and Northern Ireland can apply for the scheme".

    ..but I suspect you have to export 1MWh before you can claim one.
    • CommentAuthorCWatters
    • CommentTimeApr 26th 2019 edited
     
    This is what they claim...

    https://www.shell.com/energy-and-innovation/new-energies/new-energies-media-releases/first-utility-becomes-shell-energy-retail-ltd.html

    "All of our electricity comes from 100% renewable sources like wind, solar and biomass. Our renewable electricity is certified by Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGOs), which guarantee that for every unit of electricity our customers use, a unit of renewable electricity is put into the grid by renewable generators in the UK."

    ...just not necessarily at the same time? or is that covered by "All of our electricity comes from 100% renewable sources"?
    • CommentAuthorCliff Pope
    • CommentTimeApr 27th 2019
     
    "just not necessarily at the same time?"

    Averaged over the year, or at every single moment when a customer is drawing electricity?

    Does it really mean that if every single non-green generator shut down suddenly, Shell customers would be unaffected?

    Surely the more green customers they have, the more dependent they will be on the maintenance of non-green back-up generation in order to maintain their claim?
    A small supplier with one green customer could guarantee 100% green energy without having to do anything at all. But a large supplier 100% green customers and they'd be struggling to meet their guarantee?
    • CommentAuthorCWatters
    • CommentTimeApr 28th 2019
     
    This is what Good Energy have said..

    https://www.goodenergy.co.uk/blog/2019/03/27/shell-energy-s-renewable-promise-highlights-the-problem-with-regos/

    "If we look at First Utility’s last published energy mix (below) they sourced just 3.7% of their supply from renewables. But — as if by magic — post takeover from the oil and gas giant Shell they are now ‘100% renewable’. And all of this without a single article showing partnerships or contracts with a renewable provider."

    snip

    "The reason for this is that Shell do not have to contract or even contact any renewable generator to claim that the electricity they supply is ‘renewable’. All they have to do is buy surplus REGOs from suppliers who have already used this power to supply their customers. It’s little more than an accounting trick and, hidden somewhere amongst the smoke and mirrors, is the reality that some customers aren’t getting what they think they’re paying for. It’s a loophole, and an incredibly cheap one at that — the current price for a REGO is ~£0.35/MWh, or £1 per customer per year; to put this into context this is 0.1% of an annual bill. "
    • CommentAuthorCWatters
    • CommentTimeApr 28th 2019
     
    Humm. So instead of paying Ă‚ÂŁ1000s to put PV on my roof I could juts buy a REGO?
    • CommentAuthortony
    • CommentTimeApr 28th 2019
     
    Yuk!

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